1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements to jewelry articles to be worn by a person. More particularly, the invention relates to jewelry article sets comprising a plurality of supports of different natures and/or sizes and one or more settings provided with identical receptacles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As used throughout this application, the term "support" means a ring to be carried by a hand finger, a bracelet, an earring, a brooch, a necklace, a cuff-link, a sling of a pendant, a tie pin, a hair pin and generally any object or article to be used for ornamental purposes;
the term "setting" means a piece to be associated or linked to a support so as to form a jewel. The setting may be provided with at least one ornamental or adorning element which may possibly have a decorative design, such as initials, a blazon and the like, and may carry at least one stone which may be a precious stone and may possibly be cut, the stone being a natural mineral stone or a synthetic material, such as a diamond, sapphire, emerald, ruby, turquoise, opal, jade, onyx, coral, natural or synthetic pearls and the like. More generally, the setting comprises a basket for retaining stones in a proper position by crimping the claws of the basket;
the term "receptacle", as used in the present specification, means a piece which is permanently fixed to the setting, so as to contribute to the removability of the setting.
Rings comprising a basket carrying precious stones or non precious stones are known in the art.
For the manufacture of such a ring, two main parts are used, the first part being a ring and the second a basket in which the stones are set or crimped. These two parts are welded to each other and the set thus formed is submitted to a finishing work. For strength and aesthetic purposes, the height of the ring is frequently higher at the welding points, although some ring models are cast in one piece.
Thereafter, the precious or non precious stones are set or crimped into the basket, frequently by means of claws. In order to be reliable, this work requires very precise actions on the basket metal and also requires a finishing comprising a very fine polishing and a protecting rhodium treatment.
When the ring is offered for sale, it must be adapted to the size of the purchaser's finger. This size, calculated in millimeters of finger circumference, may vary widely and is generally between 45 and 65 millimeters. For adapting the ring to the finger size, the ring must be severed and deformed. Therefore metal must be added or removed in accordance with the need, the ring being then remodeled, again welded, polished and again treated with rhodium.
These various operation steps have many drawbacks.
First, the stresses imposed to the metal may break the ring, when the latter comprises, as frequently occurs, some imperfections. These stresses may also cause a deformation of the basket and these deformations, though they are not always visible, involve a risk of loss of the stones during the use of the jewel.
Second, in many cases, a previous decrimping of the stones is necessary since some stones do not withstand heat. Such a decrimping may cause breakages which are difficult to repair.
Third, all these manipulations may require more or less long periods of time, in accordance with the technical skills of the saler since the seller seldom has a repair workshop at the place where the sale takes place. In most cases he has to rely on a supplier for the work to be done.
Sets of jewelry articles comprising a plurality of supports and at least one setting provided with a receptacle are known. In these known sets, the supports and settings may be interchangeably coupled to each other.
Generally, the known coupling systems of said sets have several drawbacks in so far as they have a complex structure and are not reliable. Particularly, they are at least partially visible, i.e. apparent, this being detrimental for the aesthetic character which is a mandatory feature of the ring.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,133,331 and 3,192,737 disclose sets of jewelry articles comprising a plurality of supports of different natures and/or sizes, at least one setting provided with an ornamental or decorative element on a front face and adapted for being coupled by its back face to any support of the plurality of supports, male and female means for coupling the setting or each setting to a support, as well as means for blocking the male and female elements in this coupled state.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,133,331 describes a device for fixing a setting receptacle to a support, such as a ring or a small chain. This device comprises two parts, the first being a fastener or clasp integral with the back face of a setting and the second being a block integral with the support. The clasp has the shape of a U, the base of which is welded to the back face of the setting. One side wall of the clasp carries a pivot on which is mounted a pivoting arm provided with tongues. In the other side wall the clasp is perforated and is provided with a catch element, so as to retain the tongues of an arm, when the latter has been pivoted toward the second or other lateral wall of the clasp.
The block which is fixed to the support has an opening extending from one face to the opposite face of the block, so that the latter can be drawn onto the pivoting arm of the clasp.
For fixing a support, such as a ring, to the receptacle of the setting, the block carried by the support is drawn on the raised arm of the clasp, the latter being then pivoted counter-clockwise by 90.degree. toward the second arm of the clasp, until the tongues of the arm are catched by the catch element of the second clasp side wall.
The fixation device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,133,331 may accidentally be released, since the arm on which the block is drawn needs only to pivot counter-clockwise about 45.degree. in order to separate the setting from the support. Such a pivotal movement may very well occur by accident.
Moreover, the clasp and the block which form the fixing device are visible, since they are located outside the setting which detracts from the aesthetic appeal of the jewel. This disadvantage is particularly major in the case of a jewel.
Furthermore, when the setting is used together with a small chain so as to form a pendant, the device for suspending the setting to the chain, which is located at the center of the back plane of the setting, results in the pendant being unbalanced in its use position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,737 describes a ring provided with a removable setting which can be converted into a pendant. The setting carries a pivot of a lever, the free end of which may be suspended to the setting in its closed position, in which the lever extends perpendicularly to the median plane of the ring, the lever extending in a groove which is open toward the center of the ring. This groove is made by an inversed U-shaped part of the ring, the width of the groove being just sufficient for enabling the lever to extend in it, when in the closed position. The ring is also provided, on both sides of the grooved inversed U-shaped part, with a projection which becomes embedded in a hole of the setting.
In the system described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,737, when the lever is in its closed position, the ring cannot rotate around its center with regard to the setting. However, this system may also accidentally be released when a pulling force is exerted onto the ring or the setting, the end of the lever, opposed to the end mounted on its pivot, may easily become detached from the setting, so that the lever is opened by pivoting around its pivot. As soon as the lever is opened due to such a pulling force, the ring and its setting are no longer locked together, so that the setting may be lost.
Moreover, the system described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,737 is only suitable for a single ring having determined dimensions. Indeed, in view of the means for coupling the ring to the setting, it is not possible, when this system is used, to replace a ring which fits correctly in the setting by another ring having a greater or smaller outer diameter, without the need of using a special setting having different dimensions. The system according to the U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,737 does therefore not allow the use of rings of different sizes together with a single setting or the use of different settings with a plurality of rings having different sizes.
Furthermore, the system according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,737 allows the use of the setting as a pendant, suspended to the lever acting as a sling. However, the sling is located on the back face of the support substantially outside the vertical plane containing the center of gravity of the jewel, so that the latter is strongly unbalanced when it is suspended from a chain.
Finally, the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,737 is provided with a receptacle of such a nature and position that it is clearly visible and considerably reduces the possible variations of the sizes and of the aesthetic character of the jewel.